| First rubber trees have been brought to plant in the Lao PDR (Laos) in1930in only0.5hectares(ha). It was planted in the southern part in Bachiang district, Champasakprovince. The rubber trees were brought and planted as tryout purpose by a Thai investor.However, it was not attractive for farmers because rubber is new species for them and theyhave no knowledge about rubber plantation. On the other hand the income generated byrubber was not different with the income from the crops that were currently grown in thelocal areas.In1992-1996the rubber trees were brought to plant in the northern Laos namely inLuangnamtha province, where it was planted in an area of342ha in Ban Hat-Yao village.It was smallholder investments and the latex was sold to Chinese traders. The incomefrom this rubber plantation was quite high compared to other crops. Because of thisvillage is situated in the border of Laos and China so these villagers had crossed theborder to study about rubber plantation with their relatives in the other side of the border.Because of successful in rubber plantation in Ban Hat-Yao, rubber has been attractive forthe farmers in nearby areas and the rubber trees plantation has been widespread in theseareas.Rubber developments in Laos have been rapidly increasing since2000. The rubberdevelopments in Laos are mainly driven by domestic and foreign private investments asknown as large scale land leases and concessions. Over the past10years it can beobserved that the rubber trees plantation has been increasing in every regions in Laos, as aresult in2010the rubber plantations in nationwide encompassed around234,000ha and itincreased to248,840ha in2013. Almost half (49.6%) of total rubber plantations in Laosare in the north covering123,487ha, while around56,176ha (22.6%) and69,182ha(27.8%) in the middle and southern part respectively. The rubber developments in Laosare practiced in three main models such as the leases/concessions accounts for49.3%of total rubber plantation area. Contract farming accounts for23.7%and27%as smallholdermodel. However, the trends of rubber tree plantation in Laos is expected to continuallyincreased in the future and by2020the rubber plantation in nationwide is expected toreach315,400ha. At the same time there has been argued that the booms of rubberdevelopments may create negative impact on land use namely on other agricultural landsand forest cover, environment as well as the local livelihoods.Although the private investments in rubber development contribute to macroeconomic developments in Laos, provide job opportunity for local communities andincreasing agricultural productivity. In the other hand, such investments have creatednegative impacts on local economies, social and natural environment. Therefore, the mainfocus of this study is on overview of rubber developments in Laos and the impacts of largescale rubber developments on economies, social and environment. In addition, the studyalso examined the key constraints and challenges of rubber industry in Laos. The mainresearch method which used in this study was reviewing the secondary information anddata.Today, the impact of rubber plantations in Laos became a hot debate issue. The rubberplantation is continuing in every region in nationwide. The large scale rubber leases andconcessions create negative impacts on local livelihoods in the rural areas, on theenvironment namely impact on forest cover, water sources, biodiversity, wildlife etc. Themain reasons for these issues are because of granting land for concession is not compliedwith the Lao laws, policies and the level of authorization in granting the land to theconcessions such as district government can approve not greater than3ha,100ha and10,000ha for the province and central governments respectively. As states in the law, onlyempty and degraded land is allowed to give for rubber plantation. Whereas in some case,the district and province authorities have approved land to the concession up to400ha and10,000ha. At the same time, the concession fee is very low compared to China, only$6/ha/year in Laos but$50/ha/year in China. In addition, no socio-economic andenvironmental impact assessment has been done prior to granting land to the concessions.Laos may consider as a major natural rubber production and supplier country in Asiaand in the world. Today, even rubber plantations are rapidly increased, but the rubberindustry developments still do not have enough support from government such as capital,techniques and access to market. Therefore, rubber produced in Laos is low in quality.Selling the raw latex, the farmers cannot make good income from rubber industry.Because of limit of rubber processing factory in Laos therefore the producers have to relyon market abroad. Regards to rubber production management, there is no specific government unit totake charge of, no rubber steering committee and no rubber association and no rubberproducer group. However, recently the National Agriculture and Forestry ResearchInstitute (NAFRI) plays role as central coordinator in rubber developments in Laos. But itis not a specific rubber management body.As rubber developments in Laos are increasing continuously so the needs of laborforce also increasing. Currently, around37,500labor units (include foreign workers) areemployed in rubber sector. In the north accounts for43.7%(16,410labor forces),12,990(34.6%) and8,100(21.6%) in the south and middle parts respectively. In addition, around1,722people are foreign workers (registered labor) or accounts for4.59%of total laborforces in rubber sector.1,010(2.69%) are Vietnamese,695and17(0.05%) are Chineseand Thai. It is expected that in the future, Laos will face with labor shortage in rubberproduction. Because employments provided by rubber companies are not stable--as largelabors are required for plantation but less labors are needed while the plants are growing.The local people have to wait until the taping period before companies will hire themagain. In addition, the wages/salary are determined by investors, unfortunately it is quitelow for the amount of work. For example, rubber companies pay only20,000kip/day/labor to local workers or in some province only15,000kip/day/labor. Labors fromother category can earn between25,000to35,000kip/day. The companies claim that theycannot pay high wage/salary because local workers are low skilled labor. Companiesprefer import workers from their home countries. Currently, many companies haverequested the government of Laos to bring foreign workers from neighboring countries, asthey believe that Lao local workers are not productive. Therefore, some companies havebrought workers from outside legally and illegally.In order to maximize the benefits from rubber developments and to minimize theirnegative impacts, the following issues should be taken into account:1.The rubber producers should be established in order to promote and facilitate inmanagement of production and market. This is very essential in the local level, ensuringthe farmers can access to market and increase their bargaining power with traders.2.Government needs to suspend granting more land to the large scale leases andconcessions for rubber plantation, as currently many new investment proposals have beensubmitted to the government for approval. At the same time, it needs to review all projectsthat has already been approved by reevaluating if the implementation of these companiescomply with the laws and policies of the government namely the Presidential Decree onlease and concession fees. 3.Government needs to evaluate all rubber development models, to understand whichone is less risk. Avoiding the granting of large scale land for investment because the largescale land concessions seem to involve in converting the forest areas, farming land toconcession. This process has forced local people to work with company as daily workerswith low wages but hard work.4.The government should by creating policy and regulations, provide training to thelocal workers and make sure that all the workers are equally employed by the companies.This can reduce bringing in foreign labors. |
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